New York Mayor encourages King Charles to return 105-karat Koh-i-Noor Diamond to India

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has urged King Charles to consider returning the Koh-i-Noor diamond to India during the monarch’s U.S. visit. The remarks revive long-standing calls from India for the return of the 105-carat jewel taken during British colonial rule in the 19th century.

Shung Sin Tan/Reuters

April 30, 2026

New York Mayor encourages King Charles to return 105-karat Koh-i-Noor Diamond to India

Britain's King Charles standing next to Queen Camilla interacts with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani during a visit to the 9/11 Memorial, in New York City, U.S., April 29, 2026.

Jeenah Moon/Reuters

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Wednesday (April 29) he encourages Britain's King Charles to return the Koh-i-Noor Diamond, with his comments coming during the British monarch's ongoing U.S. visit.

"If I were to speak to the king separately from that, I would probably encourage him to return the Koh-i-Noor Diamond," Mamdani, who is Indian American, said when asked at a news conference hours before a ceremony that commemorated victims of the deadly September 11, 2001, attacks.

Later in the day, the king spoke with Mamdani at the ceremony. Buckingham Palace declined to comment. Mamdani's office did not respond to a request to comment on whether Mamdani brought up the issue with the king.

India has previously repeatedly demanded that Britain return the 105-carat diamond.

Britain's then colonial governor-general of India arranged for the huge diamond to be presented to Queen Victoria in 1850 after the East India Company had annexed the region of Punjab in 1849 and taken the diamond from a deposed Indian leader.

-Shung Sin Tan/Reuters